7 Keys That Unlock The Door To Your Success in a Business Opportunity
 by: Patricia Winston


Looking for a Business Opportunity? Are You Overwhelmed with the sheer number of opportunities available? Confused about what's right for you?

What’s your reason for finding a business opportunity? What exactly do you hope to achieve? Following are popular reasons from people I've spoken to:

1. recently downsized
2. nest egg too small
3. tired of your job
4. need money for college
5. too much month left at the end of the money
6. looking for early retirement strategies
7. implementing exit strategy from work force
8. strong desire for time freedom
9. strong desire to grow personally
10. love a challenge

When is NOW a good time to make a change? How do you navigate the thousands of opportunities available? Use this checklist - “7 Keys That Unlock The Door To Your Success in a Business Opportunity” - compare to what you’ve already seen and position yourself to get started mastering the skills you’ll need to allow yourself to increase your income, fatten your nest egg, gain independence, lead yourself to financial and time freedom - Step with confidence into free enterprise!

Look for High Priced, High Quality Products

Realize you must “trade” something for money in order to be in business. To put it simply, this means you must sell a product or service. This does not mean you need to be a master sales person, but, you can grow into one by mastering skills and technology over time. More on this later. The best solution is a product that has perceived value by your customer. It will obviously pass your test first. It will enhance your customers life. It will educate your customer and his family. The product must be unique and proprietary, which means there is little or no duplication to cause competition. In addition there must be a high demand for the product and the price point must be set so that there is value for you to spend your time and money marketing the product and your customer can benefit from owning the product. The product must also be easy to deliver and implement.

Growth Market

When starting a business you want to enter a market that is growing and has projected long term growth. In addition, there must be a continual influx of prospects reaching the ‘right age’, ‘right circumstances’ to want the business and product. It is important to understand the difference between a trend and a fad. A business based on a fad will fade quickly while a business based on a trend will grow exponentially. Also, given local and national economic swings, you want a business with no territorial boundaries and a product which has national and global appeal. The criteria will position your business so that it isn't tied to one economy allowing you the flexibility to grow your business without geographic or economic boundaries.

Systems - Make Money While You Sleep

The reason fast food restaurants can be run successfully by teenagers is because they have systems in place to ensure consistent outcomes. I call this a clue. . . Starting your own home based business is no different; you want a system to follow to ensure you have financial and time leverage. The system must be simple to follow and it must integrate the use of technology to leverage your time and money. Most people are not born sales people so the system must assist you in the sales process and be focused on sorting to sell. The system must also be scalable to be utilized by both part time and full time workers. You've heard this before, "Make Money While You Sleep" - a system will provide you the capacity to increase your income with less effort.

Teamwork & Mentorship

On going leadership and mentorship is crucial to your success when starting a business. Having autonomy is important so you want to focus on a business that allows you independence, and also offers the benefits of team work and personal mentorship. In essence you want to be in business for yourself but not by yourself. Make sure you know who your mentor is and understand what they agree to commit to you when you begin your business; make sure you have rapport with your mentor take the opportunity to meet their team before you spend any money.

Mindset Training

We are just beginning to understand the mind, how our thoughts create our reality and how our brain works. Over the past 40 years, institutions have conducted research to learn how we function as human beings. It is important to connect with an organization that offers mindset training / education so you can develop within the framework of personal growth to enhance your leadership skills. You’ll learn to visualize your goals, make them concrete, expand your goals, change your core values, remove struggle / obstacles quickly; and achieve success both personally and financially. You'll shift from an employee core value, looking for security and pensions, to enterpreneurial core values seeking freedom. Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich writes, “When you begin to think and grow rich, you will observe that riches begin with a state of mind, with definiteness of purpose, with little or no hard work.” Instead of working hard, you'll learn through mindset training to work smart with less effort.

Start Up Cash - Compensation Plan - Business Maintenance

Understanding the details of the compensation plan is crucial before you begin a home based business. Is it simple, easily understood by you? Can you explain it to your spouse in 5 minutes or less? Look at the startup investment and compare it to the profit per sale. Can you get into profit quickly and repay yourself? Start up cash can be from $2,000 to $25,000 and be considered a small investment for a business. Compare this to a franchise cost - hundreds of thousands of dollars up to millions, with long term contracts, lots of liability and no profit for 5 to 10 years.

It is critical to understand the qualification process. The better opportunities require a one time qualification process, not a monthly or ongoing volume based qualification process. After all, this is your business and if you want to take a long weekend, month or 3 months off to vacation you should not be penalized.

Make sure the plan allows for immediate payment to you from your customer; you should not have to wait weeks or a month for YOUR money. The pay plan must have leverage - otherwise you'll be trading your time for money like your job. You want a business that leverages your time and money.

There must be exponential growth of income due to high profit step up products and monthly residual profits from your team sales. These sales are made without marketing expense or your time. They arrive in your bank account automatically. You also want to understand the long term plans of your supplier. . . will they be in business in 10 years? Can I pass this business on to my children?

The final consideration is your individual sale profit. Does it cover your advertising and lead generation cost? If it costs more to market and advertise than you're getting paid, forget it! I know of businesses that have a 10% overhead. You'll actually have to look for tax deductions.

Understanding The Products and the Business Before You Buy

Would you buy a car without test driving it? Would you buy real estate without walking through it? Why would you enter a home based business without a thorough review? A legitimate business owner will open the "magic curtain" and let you look behind the scenes BEFORE taking your money. Ask about product guarantees. If you see a 30 day money back guarantee - go ahead and purchase the "getting started" kit to review the business; ask to talk with other buyers who are either working in the business or customers of the product; ask to attend a training call as well as a business presentation call; ask for the details of the compensation plan; ask questions so you understand the daily tasks and processes required to be successful in the business (many businesses advertise as home based but require most of the operational activities to be done in meetings or presentations outside the home, so they might be based at home but they are run on the road). If a business owner is not willing to share these details openly, there is probably a reason why.

These "7 Keys That Unlock The Door To Your Success in a Business Opportunity" will assist you to make an informed decision about the business opportunity that’s in alignment with your values. Enjoy your research and welcome to the wonderful world of free enterprise!


About The Author
Patricia Winston is a 7 year veteran of online / offline marketing of direct sales business opportunities. Formerly, her entrepreneurial activities were associated with brick and mortar businesses; real estate, mortgage, tourism, service. Her mission is to assist those individuals that wish to change their core values from “job/security” to “freedom/entrepreneur” and move forward into prosperity in the greatest sense of the word. To learn more about her current business go to http://www.90DaysTo90K.com